Quote:
Originally Posted by cowtown
I just don't get this antipathy toward Rennlist from some people here. The guy built a small business using a unique model, and has apparently been successful enough to sell it. I hope he made a good profit and was rewarded for the risk and hard work he put into his site. It's not like he tricked us into paying memberships.
You think Wayne's running this site from the goodness of his heart, just because you don't pay $17/year? No, he's trying to make a profit, just like Rennlist did. More power to them.
Geez...nothing is free, guys.
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I think one of the things that generate antipathy towards Rennlist is that people are told that their membership goes to support the site, help buy servers, fast internet connections, etc. The owner always says that Rennlist was not his “real job” (he puts it in quotes too). He also states, over and over, that he is not generating a profit. The implication is that he is running Rennlist as a hobby, and that money comes out of his own pocket to run it. The implication is that it is running in the red.
The reality is that he probably makes 100’s of thousands of dollars. He probably pays himself and his wife a salary, so technically there is no “profit” in an accounting sense. I seriously doubt his “real job” amounted to much of anything. If I recall, his “real job” was a consultant, helping people with computer networks. You can say your “real job” is as a consultant and only work one day a year at it.
Like most people, I have no problems with someone coming up with a business and making a boatload of money off of it. The problem people have is that it was always implied that Rennlist was a money losing hobby. If he just called it a business (which it is, I think it is (was) incorporated) and said he made money on it, people wouldn’t have a problem with it. People do feel like they were tricked into paying memberships. Look at all the strife non-members get. The owner never made any serious efforts to contain that.